T for Texas

About T for Texas and T. Lindsay Baker

T for Texas is a two-minute weekly radio program of the Texas past written and presented by Tarleton State University Professor T. Lindsay Baker. The stories cover the entirety of the history and regions of the Lone Star State.

Does Baker know what he is talking about? He has written over twenty academic books on the history of Texas and the American West, but he's not a stodgy, old "ivory tower"-professor. Instead he lives on a working farm in Hill County, drives an old Model A Ford car for fun, and speaks to audiences all across Texas, the United States, and overseas. Students line up to attend his classes at Tarleton State University. You've probably heard him on TV and on other radio stations, where he is widely recognized as one of the authorities on the Texas past.

Top Ten T. Lindsay Baker Highlights

Holder of the oldest endowed chair in Texas History, the W.K. Gordon Chair, and full Professor of History at Tarleton State University.

Author of twenty books on Texas and the American West.

Former Fulbright Lecturer in Europe.

Most published author at the Texas A&M University Press.

Winner of Coral H. Tullis Award (Texas State Historical Association) and Kate Broocks Bates Award (Daughters of the Republic of Texas) for The First Polish Americans as the best book of the year on Texas, 1980.

Fellow of the Texas State Historical Association.

Founding director of the Texas Heritage Museum of military history at Hill College, Hillsboro, Texas.

Sought-after speaker who gives programs across Texas, the United States, and overseas, including presentations in Great Britain, the Netherlands, Portugal, Denmark, Poland, Hungary, and Canada.

Recipient of Ralph Coats Roe Medal (American Society of Mechanical Engineers) for “contributions to a better understanding and appreciation of an engineer’s worth to contemporary society,” 1987.

What Others are Saying

Without a doubt T. Lindsay Baker is one of the great Texas historians of his generation. While he pursues an accurate accounting of facts like all historians, he believes in making the reader’s journey an enjoyable one. . . . Baker weaves together . . . an unconventional mosaic of socio-cultural keys to the Texan character. . . . His perspective . . . refreshes the soul, heals the heart, and reminds everyone why they are glad to be Texan."—Tai Kreidler, Executive Director, West Texas Historical Association.

"Every turn of the road, it seems, triggers his great stories from the past—from dreamers and schemers to would-be saints. They’re all still out there on the cultural horizon, and Dr. Baker knows how to tell their tales with accuracy, respect, and a strong sense of place."—Dan K. Utley, Chief Historian, ret., Texas Historical Commission.

What Others are Saying

". . . but the stories are as interesting—and horrifying—as anything in ‘Roots.’ The narratives are rich in folklore, from treasure stories to voodoo and in details of the everyday life of a slave. . . . As Baker said in the last paragraph of his introduction, ‘Those who read these pages should come and bring their buckets to the well and drink deep of the memories.’"—Amarillo Sunday News-Globe

"At long last, we have the book, the definitive statement, on one of the most fascinating sites and incidents in the history of Texas, The Battle of Adobe Walls. . . . You will never need another volume on Adobe Walls; this one will do the trick nicely. And the work will serve as a model for historians and archaeologists joining to study other historical sites in the U.S."—Old West

"Quite literally greater than the sum of its parts. . . . Adobe Walls is, I believe, a milestone in the historical archaeology of the Southern Plains and an eloquent testimony to the cooperation of scholars with two different but obviously complimentary perspectives."—Journal of American History

What Others are Saying

"Baker is a premier yarn spinner and consummate historian, and his writing accurately conveys his remarkably honed sense of place, as well as his enthusiasm for a historical tale well told. Gangster Tour of Texas is site-based history at its most compelling level. . . . It is, as the title suggests, a tour, but a tour unlike any other. Gangster Tour of Texas makes a significant contribution to our collective understanding of the recent past by exploring one important aspect of social history. It is a study that is, at once, engaging, comfortable, rewarding, and unforgettable."—Southwestern Historical Quarterly

"While Baker's historical investigation of forgotten and lurid crimes reconstructed geography and good writing may inspire others to further work in specialized areas, for the general aficionado of Texana, the compelling reason to acquire this book and to consider visiting these crime scenes is simply; it's much better than fiction!"—Josiah M. Daniel III, Legacies

What Others are Saying

"Without a doubt the most authoritative [book] ever published on American windmills."—Nebraska History.

"The indefatigable T. Lindsay Baker has now turned his enormous mental and physical energies to the subject and has brought to view - if not to life -eighty-six Texas ghost towns for the reader's pleasure. Baker has done his work thoroughly and well . . . . He obviously had fun in the process and it shows in his prose."—New Mexico Historical Review

"Every turn of the road, it seems, triggers his great stories from the past—from dreamers and schemers to would-be saints. They’re all still out there on the cultural horizon, and Dr. Baker knows how to tell their tales with accuracy, respect, and a strong sense of place."—Dan K. Utley, Chief Historian, ret., Texas Historical Commission.